Subgrouping in the context of "Baltic languages"

⭐ In the context of Baltic languages, the division into West and East branches is primarily characterized by…

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⭐ Core Definition: Subgrouping

Subgrouping in linguistics is the division of a language family into its constituent branches. In standard linguistic theory, subgroupings are determined based on shared innovations between languages.

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👉 Subgrouping in the context of Baltic languages

The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Europe. Together with the Slavic languages, they form the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European family.

Scholars usually regard them as a single subgroup divided into two branches: West Baltic (containing only extinct languages) and East Baltic (containing at least two living languages, Lithuanian, Latvian, and by some counts including Latgalian and Samogitian as separate languages rather than dialects of those two). In addition, the existence of the Dnieper-Oka language is hypothesized, with the extinct Golyad language being the only known member. The range of the East Baltic linguistic influence once possibly reached as far as the Ural Mountains, but this hypothesis has been questioned.

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